As Predicted, The End Of The World (Cruise)

Poor Harold Camping got it wrong – again. The world did not end Saturday as the self-proclaimed biblical prophet predicted (he also prophesied the end in 1994).

And so it looks as though we (including the 200 million people who were supposed to be raptured yesterday, according to Camping) continue to be subjugated to yet another day, week, month, year, decade, century or millennium of inhabiting the planet and making do.

Not all “world’s end” prophets were so unfortunate last week, however. Silversea Cruises accurately predicted the end of its world cruise, which concluded precisely as planned on May 19. Congratulations to Silversea Cruises, the victor in “end of the world” predictions during the month of May. With only two contestants, second place probably provides little consolation for the 89-year-old Mr. Camping.

It’s something special to be present at the end of anything, and I was among the fortunate who stepped off Silver Spirit on that sunny Thursday morning in Southampton. And though I had sailed only 31 days, from Dubai, I disembarked with a taste for what it was like for those lucky souls who were raptured aboard the luxury vessel back in January for the 119-day journey from Los Angeles. Indeed, being on board Silver Spirit for weeks upon weeks was heavenly.

It’s astounding to think that on one voyage we “survived” pirates, experienced the “newly reborn” Egypt (including Cairo before it erupted in violence once again), toured the town where the disposed dictator Mubarak was being held, cruised the Suez Canal (physically and symbolically bridging our journey from Asia to Europe), provisioned in Piraeus, learned to cook Sicilian style, saw the quintessential Capri — and so much more. A recap of the posts I filed during the journey follows below.

During the course of my journey, there were many questions from readers of Avid Cruiser. I’ll be answering those questions during the next few weeks. I didn’t want to take the time to answer them before today – just in case Mr. Camping was right.

I don’t know what Mr. Camping is doing today, but because I talked with them over the course of my time on board, I do know what many of Silver Spirit’s world cruisers are doing: planning their next world cruises — on Silver Whisper. The rapture begins in Fort Lauderdale on January 6, 2012, and will end, with certainty, on May 1, in Monte Carlo. Let the countdown begin.